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THE WOMBATS
Since they emerged as leading lights of the late-‘00s indie rock scene with 2007 debut 'A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation', Liverpool’s The Wombats – Matthew “Murph” Murphy, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and drummer Dan Haggis – have maintained an incredible upward momentum, amassing 2.5B streams along the way. 2011’s electro-flecked second album 'The Modern Glitch' made them Top Ten regulars; 2015’s third 'Glitterbug' saw them embraced by the TikTok generation years later, with 'Greek Tragedy' a viral hit several times over. By 2018’s 'Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life' they’d stepped up to arenas around the world, and 2022’s 'Fix Yourself, Not the World' was the band’s first UK #1 album. Their recent Reading 2024 Radio 1 tent headline slot proved they continue at the top of their game, overspilling with crowds of 18-24-year-olds that remain the core audience 2 decades into their career. This set launched the new era of The Wombat’s sixth album 'Oh! The Ocean', a project that grooves with social anxiety, internal strife, compulsive behaviours and the dilemmas and tribulations of Los Angeles life, where Murph and his family live. From behind the band’s deceptively cuddly façade, Murph has always written openly about his anxiety, depression and addictions (he’s now “sober as hell”), but with this collection there’s a sense of progress towards confronting, accepting and coping with his issues. Alongside familiar sounds they explore new genres from glistening tech rock to sci-fi pop, futuristic fuzz rock to bluesy rock’n’roll, with touches of disco and hip-hop-inflections.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Another transmission of silky smooth synth-indie music from The Wombats. Though the aesthetic we've come to expect from the band is very much intact, their sound branches out effortlessly into more rhythmic, less obvious avenues.TRACK LISTING
1. Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come
2. Can’t Say No
3. Blood On The Hospital Floor
4. Kate Moss
5. Gut Punch
6. My Head Is Not My Friend
7.I Love America And She Hates Me
8. The World’s Not Out To Get Me, I Am
9. Grim Reaper
10. Reality Is A Wild Ride
11 Swerve (101)
12. Lobster
The Wombats follow their Top 5 album ‘This Modern Glitch’ with the release of their third full-length ‘Glitterbug’ via 14th Floor Records / Warner Bros. Records. Already named as Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record, the album’s lead single ‘Greek Tragedy’ was accompanied by a darkly compelling video in which one young fan takes her obsession with the band to disturbing extremes. Produced by Mark Crew (Bastille) and The Wombats – frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and drummer Dan Haggis – the album’s themes were inspired by core songwriter Murph’s experiences in Los Angeles. Drawn to the city’s mix of “opulence and anxiety”, his songwriting for the album focused upon the idea of writing about a tumultuous relationship with a fictional woman from Los Angeles.
“That became the main inspiration for most of the songs, this false world that I’d created for myself,” he explains. “As time progressed, I’d go to L.A. more and more, and the idea kept on building. The album’s about the envy and the struggle and the pretence and the worry and the fear that L.A. – and every major city in the world – encompasses.”
Approximately halfway through the writing process, events conspired to curve full-circle from fiction into fact when Murph started dating a seemingly unattainable woman from the city. And so imaginary stories evolved into real life concerns: the fading embers of his relationship back in London and the challenges of maintaining a long distance relationship. Instrumentally, most of the songs took one of two directions: back in Liverpool, bassist Tord and drummer Dan’s rush of creativity would result in them delivering backing tracks as a foundation for Murph to then build upon in L.A. or London; alternatively Murph would develop the essence of a song on guitar or piano for the band to collectively flesh out. Despite the initial geographic displacement of the trio, subsequent sessions at Mark Crew’s London studio demonstrated that The Wombats’ inter-band dynamics are as strong as ever before.
‘Greek Tragedy’ floats an East Asian-infused synth riff over booming, distorted drum beats, while another immediate stand-out, the uplifting ‘Give Me A Try’ (inspired by Murph’s blossoming new relationship) represents the band’s most positive lyric to date. Other highlights include the elastic bass and pulsating disco rhythm that permeates throughout ‘Be Your Shadow’; the almost unrecognisably different ‘Emoticons’; and ‘This is Not A Party’ which addresses Murph’s swing from celebratory hedonism to a borderline existential crisis over the course of some “fairly sizeable” nights out in the summer of 2013.
“That became the main inspiration for most of the songs, this false world that I’d created for myself,” he explains. “As time progressed, I’d go to L.A. more and more, and the idea kept on building. The album’s about the envy and the struggle and the pretence and the worry and the fear that L.A. – and every major city in the world – encompasses.”
Approximately halfway through the writing process, events conspired to curve full-circle from fiction into fact when Murph started dating a seemingly unattainable woman from the city. And so imaginary stories evolved into real life concerns: the fading embers of his relationship back in London and the challenges of maintaining a long distance relationship. Instrumentally, most of the songs took one of two directions: back in Liverpool, bassist Tord and drummer Dan’s rush of creativity would result in them delivering backing tracks as a foundation for Murph to then build upon in L.A. or London; alternatively Murph would develop the essence of a song on guitar or piano for the band to collectively flesh out. Despite the initial geographic displacement of the trio, subsequent sessions at Mark Crew’s London studio demonstrated that The Wombats’ inter-band dynamics are as strong as ever before.
‘Greek Tragedy’ floats an East Asian-infused synth riff over booming, distorted drum beats, while another immediate stand-out, the uplifting ‘Give Me A Try’ (inspired by Murph’s blossoming new relationship) represents the band’s most positive lyric to date. Other highlights include the elastic bass and pulsating disco rhythm that permeates throughout ‘Be Your Shadow’; the almost unrecognisably different ‘Emoticons’; and ‘This is Not A Party’ which addresses Murph’s swing from celebratory hedonism to a borderline existential crisis over the course of some “fairly sizeable” nights out in the summer of 2013.
TRACK LISTING
1. Emoticons
2. Give Me A Try
3. Greek Tragedy
4. Be Your Shadow
5. Headspace
6. This Is Not A Party
7. Isabel
8. Your Body Is A Weapon
9. The English Summer
10. Pink Lemonade
11. Curveballs
Produced by Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age Lostprophets) "Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)" adds an array of new sounds (including sweeping synths and an insistent bassline) to the band’s famously immediate songwriting.
TRACK LISTING
Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)
Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) (Grum Remix)